One of the highlights of our European trip is a seven-day bike trip through the Czech Republic and Germany. Of those seven days, five are on the bike, riding between towns along the Vtlava and Elbe Rivers. We just finished the fourth day. So far, we’ve had two perfect days of sunshine and great riding. The past two days have been rainy.

Linda is such a great traveling partner. No squabbles about the rain or distance or saddle sores. She has been smiling the whole trip, no matter what has been thrown our way.

We left Litomerice yesterday morning after a hot breakfast and a few cups of coffee. The trails were dry until close to noon. When the rains started, they never let up.

The scenery was quite beautiful, and we rode along the side of the Elbe River, enjoying the sights. By 3:00 PM, we rode into the old square in Decin. We were wet and tired, but in good spirits. After storing our bikes and finding our bags, we went to our room to dry off. We rested for a bit and then went wandering, looking for dinner.

Today’s ride was short – only 12 miles, but all in a mist. We took a ferry across the river and checked into our hotel early (a bit past 10:00 AM). We’re staying in a small resort town named Hrensko. The town is the gateway to the Czech-Saxon Switzerland National Park. Like many tourist towns, the first thing we found were a plethora of open-air t-shirt stalls.

We didn’t buy any shirts. We did hike up the canyon for a while. That is, until it starting downpouring. We hopped into a restaurant for a quick beer, and then hiked back to our hotel to dry off again.

I’m sitting now in an enclosed porch, overlooking the Elbe. The rain has stopped and we are enjoying the peacefulness that is everywhere along this trip. Tomorrow morning we’ll have an early breakfast, followed by the longest ride (about 38 miles) of our journey, into Dresden.

Stay dry, my friends.